My Doggie Tale:

My dog Bandit came into my life when I was 16, and still living under my parent’s strict policy of “no dogs in the house.” She remained an outside dog for about four years until I was able to get pet-friendly living accommodations of my own. My early college years were tough for my puppy and I was determined to make up for lost time and give her all the attention she deserved.

Bringing a dog into the house can be cause for anxiety. I read books and articles for advice on the transition, paying close attention to potty training methods. They all seemed to agree that crate training was the least stressful way, for both you and your canine, to bring a pup into your abode. Essentially, I was supposed to shut Bandit in a comfortably-sized crate whenever I left the house or went to sleep.

There was a whole methodology to crate training, which I followed word for word, hoping all would be well. Nothing prepared me for her reaction to that thin wire door closing behind her. Absolute panic is the best way to describe it. I was soon to discover that this panic extended to any type of door closing behind her, no matter the size of the enclosure: half a room, the whole room, the entire house. She tried to scratch her way out of her crate and succeeded in scraping all the fur off her nose. She chewed her way through the bedroom door tearing up all the carpet in the process. She tore a hole through the drywall next to the front door, and when she couldn’t see the light of day proceeded to jump through a cracked window. My poor dog had taken only one day to become potty trained, but she was hurting herself any time I left the house. I was at my wit’s end – would I have to keep her tethered to me at all times, or never leave the house at all?

The diagnosis from my veterinarian was a solid case of separation anxiety. The solution: 1) pick a special treat to be given when, and only when, I left the house, and 2) make sure to walk her 3 to 5 miles every day. Things vastly improved after making these changes. My active college life made the 3 to 5 mile daily walk easily attainable and very enjoyable. Finally, my dog and I were happily cohabitating.

The time came for me to graduate and for our little family to leave Bandit's home state of Wisconsin. I got a job as an applications engineer for a company down in balmy Georgia, so we packed up our car and headed south for our new home. My new career required me to travel on occasion, and it was on one of the first occasions that I reached a new doggie-related dilemma. Who was going to look after Bandit while I was away? I ended up striking up a deal with a coworker. He would watch my dog while I was traveling, and I would watch his two Newfoundlands, two ferrets, and two horses while it was his turn. Even with all those pets I always felt like I got the better bargain, because my dog had such an exact prescription for treats and walks. For the most part this little arrangement worked well, but I always worried about if I was watching their pets as much as they were watching mine. Was my coworker getting a fair trade, or was he starting to feel I was taking advantage of him?

I never got the answer to that question because my job abruptly whisked me away to a new location, this time in North Carolina. The problem we encountered here was that our house was very far away from my place of employment, so there were no coworkers nearby this time. Additionaly, the hot southern weather was taking a bit of a toll on Bandit, and she was starting to become difficult to walk and slightly overweight. A good friend and coworker of mine had also made the move and had a similar problem, so we struck up a deal. When I had to travel I would drop Bandit at her house some 30 miles away, and when she had to travel she would do the same with her Shih Tzu mix.

Aside from the distance we had to travel, this caused me a lot of stress. Bandit wasn't always agreeable with being left alone in new surroundings, and she could be very intimidating to Puppi, who was a much smaller dog. After returning one trip to discover that she had tried to eat my friend's door jamb, my husband and I decided to make sure our travel schedules never overlapped. We were pretty successful at this for a while, even though scheduling could be difficult, until my job once again carried me away, this time across the country to sunny southern California.

This move was a little different from our previous ones. My husband and I were going to live on opposite sides of the country for almost nine months. Bandit would live with me, of course, but I had to get set up in a dog friendly environment before that could happen. Once again we were faced with needing someone to watch our beloved family pet. This time we turned to people we knew we could always rely on, our family. My aunt lived in a little town about two hours away from our house in North Carolina, and she offered to watch Bandit when Robert inevitably had to travel. To this day I still feel guilty whenever I see my aunt, because our precious dog, upon her first visit, tried to tear the front door apart and worked herself into such a panicked frenzy that she ended up giving herself a tummy ache and ruining my aunt's carpet. We paid for the damages when we found out what happened, but knowing the horrible scene my aunt must have faced upon returning home from work still gives me nightmares.

Thankfully that was the last time we had to leave Bandit before she was transported to our new home in California, where I could protect and comfort her. I thought we'd be able to settle back into our old routine with no problems, but I was soon to discover I was horribly wrong. Bandit's separation anxiety seemed to have returned at full force. Even with our old routine she would panic, scratch at the door, and cry and howl everytime I left the house. Even if I just left for five minutes to throw in a load of laundry. Neighbors started to complain about the noise. To make matters worse she continued to have diarhea in the house, and then she started throwing up. I brought her to the vet, who diagnosed her with a hyperthyroid problem. They gave us some pills and sent us on our way, but it didn't seem to solve the problem at hand.

In the meantime I still had to go to work every day, and I didn't want to anger my neighbors, so I brought my poor puppy to a kennel for daycare. This didn't help her anxiety matters at all, and I became very irritated that the daily reports would say she was doing well when I could clearly see she was not. She was stressed out, and I was at my wit's end, rushing her to a place she hated every morning before work and then rushing back after work to pick her up. Finally, after several more vet visits for opinions, second opinions, and third opinions, I was told she had picked up some type of bacteria. Bandit was panicking when I left because she didn't feel well, and she knew she wouldn't have access to the outdoors if I wasn't there. Thousands of dollars and a couple of weeks worth of antibiotics and I finally had my dog back.

Life was good once again. My husband finally moved across the country to join us, and we were one big happy family. Eventually we had to travel again, and were faced with the "who will watch the dog" question. We'd already determined that asking family, friends, or neighbors was not a great option, and the kennel had made Bandit truly miserable, there was no way I'd bring her back there. I found an ad for a doggie daycare on the internet that showed promise. The dogs were left out in a fenced-in play area to socialize with each other all day long, and were put in kennels for only a few hours each night to sleep. I wasn't sure how well Bandit would socialize with the other dogs, it was definitely something lacking in her training, but the place was very nice. We decided to try it out.

After her first visit to the daycare I could tell that this wouldn't be the best solution for my dog, but I learned that bringing her to dedicated pet sitters made me feel so much more at peace while I was away. I didn't have to worry about Bandit damaging someone's personal property, and I didn't have to worry that she would hurt herself. The kennel at night still bothered her and she wasn't too sure how to interact with the other dogs, so she was kind of a loner, but finally the people watching her cared enough to observe these things and to let me know about them. I brought her there a few more times before, you guessed it, the time had come to move away once again.

This time we landed in Texas. I decided at this point not to continue my career as an engineer, so I enrolled in a high school teaching program. Even though I no longer needed to travel for work, we liked to go on human-only vacations a couple times a year, so I needed a new doggie-sitting solution. I searched online for another day care center, but the ones available in my area were definitely more like kennels than I was hoping for. If there was anything I'd learned over her lifetime, it was that Bandit did not like to be locked away. In the course of my search I stumbled upon the Pet Sitter's International website. Evidentally there were people out there who were dedicated to caring for your dog in your absense, either in your home or their's. I typed in my zip code and received a list of professional pet sitters who served my area.

This discovery finally put an end to the drama of leaving Bandit. We hired a professional sitter to come to our house and visit with Bandit according to our regular schedule. In her established environment, her normal routine uninterrupted, she was finally relaxed while we were away, and so were we.

Not all pet sitters are the same. Some have been a good fit with our family, and some have not. Regardless of fit, I am always relieved to know that a professional is dealing with my dog while I'm away. I never have any of those nagging worries about fair trades, damaged homes, or inconveniencing my friends anymore.

Nowadays Bandit, Robert, Laurel and Hardy (our cats), and I live in Portland, Oregon. Bandit has slowed down considerably, and is nearing her 15th birthday. Since Bandit has become a senior citizen we hire a pet sitter, SitWalkStay, whenever we'll be away for more than five or six hours. I'm always happy with that decision.

In 2007 I decided that teaching was not a good fit for me, so I turned to a career that would incorporate my love of dogs and of the outdoors. I am now a professional dog walker myself. I want my clients to be able to leave their pets at home feeling confident that they are relaxed and comfortable. A stress-free dog sitting solution for the working person, that is my mission. After some of the experiences I've had with my own dog, I know how important it is to have a pet care professional you can depend on.

Christie Kirchmiller
Owner and Dog Walker for Paws in the Park